The Black Book of Arda/The Black Silmarillion is a book by N. Vassilyeva and N. Nekrasova written around 1992 and based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion.

It was written without the permission of the Tolkien Estate, but Russia tends to play loose and fast with international copyright laws anyway, so they can't be penalized in Russia. According to "The Black Book..." Melkor was a bringer of wisdom and freedom both to Arda and to the Children of Iluvatar, while Ilúvatar is a tyrant, and the Valar entirely enslaved to his will and his plan for the world, and determined to bend the world to that plan. Melkor refuses to bend to Iluvatar's predetermined fate of the world, choosing free will instead, and is alienated from the rest of the Valar because of that.

In this book, Melkor sees himself as the bridegroom of Arda itself, freeing her from the slavery of Eru's unchanging vision of perfection. The end of the Springtime of Arda (the time of the lanterns) was seen as a great relief to the spirit of Arda itself, saving her from a changeless, "perfect" time of endless waiting for something to happen. The Maiar were created by the Valar, as assistants and helpers, and not directly by Eru, as is depicted in The Silmarillion.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here had read it, and what they thought of it. I know a lot of people aren't okay with fanfiction, and this kind of fanfiction is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Still, I'm usually willing to entertain fanfiction on its own merits. If it can entertain me, and make me feel and think, then I'm willing to accept it as a reputable work of art, even if it is derivative.

That sounds exactly like The Last Ringbearer, which is also an "other side" account of LotR. (and I think thats also Russian. There's a thread about it somewhere below).

Anyway, I like to read such things as they give out an interesting perspective. Afterall, the stories are supposed to be written by those who won and is just an account from their side.So its pretty interesting to know about the losing side. Given of course, is that it ought to "feel" like Tolkien or close to it.The Black Sil certainly sounds very interesting.As you can tell I haven't read it but I will check out your link later!

We're a bit uncertain how to handle this particular topic (with a direct link to the work). Given the work is described as fanfiction, this seemed the appropriate forum, however there is more to these particular works. The Russian works seem to be a little more problematic than regular fan-fiction as far as copyright. As a temporary measure we will have to remove the link to the actual work (the Tolkien Estate is very tough on these issues, and TORC has been contacted by them before). Discussion of the work is fine. Once we get clarification on the copyright issues we may be able to restore the link. We're looking into it at the moment.

I don't want to get the forum (or myself) in trouble with the Tolkien Estate; I have nothing but respect for Professor Tolkien, his works, and his legacy. If there's a problem, and you need to delete this thread entirely, please let me know. I promise you won't offend me.

It' portrays Melkor as a creative free spirit, set on collision course with the despotic Illuvatar and his fawning Valar. If you read Sil as a religious metaphor, you won't like it. If you have read Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, you will understand where it's coming from. It has some very good moments, but gets repetitive as a sequence of characters learn "The Truth" about Melkor.

The Last Ringbearer is less of a fanfiction than a response to LOTR from a different philosophical perspective. For one thing, Orcs, Trolls, and even Nazgul are all human, while Elves are more consistent with the European idea of them as not very nice at all. The story begins shortly after Pelennor with two survivors - an Orc and a Southron, and goes on to team them up with a Gondorian (IIRC) and ultimately Faramir, who is a sort of intelligence chief for Gondor, to free the Middle-earth from an even greater danger. Quite a good story, actually.

Impressive. Every word in that sentence was wrong.Luke Skywalker, The Last Jedi